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Google and Yahoo buy up internet companies like Jerry Seinfeld collects Porsches. One would have thought that one of each model was quite enough, but the internet giants want a garage full of internet companies of every shape and color. So it is with site stats services such as MeasureMap.

Update: It's true.

Since Google acquired Urchin — the service that became Google Analytics — people assumed that MeasureMap would go to Yahoo. MeasureMap displays data such as number of visits, source of traffic, geographicaly distribution of visitors, and does so in a graphically appealing fashion. The service was built by Adaptive Path, the user experience gurus; many of their friends now work at Yahoo, which seemed like a natural acquiror.

However, we hear that it's Google, not Yahoo, that's close to clinching a deal for MeasureMap. The official logic will be this: with Urchin's raw power and MeasureMap's friendly design, Google Analytics will be unbeatable. Translation: it's so pretty, I've got to have it, so what if I already have one.